PCjr Ethernet?

[Tempest]

This has probably been answered before, but is it possible to hook the PCjr up to the net somehow? Maybe using one of those Lantronix Serial to Ethernet type devices? I was thinking it would be neat to use the PCjr to telnet into one of those online BBSs that are still running Door games.

[jmetal88]

http://www.brutman.com/Dos_Networking/xircom_pe3.html

And of course you can telnet over that with this:

http://www.brutman.com/mTCP/

[Tempest]

Neat! I'll have to look into this. I already have a Parallel port sidecar going for my 3.5" drive, can I use a second one for this (I think I have a spare)? I seem to recall it being possible. Also, can a serial port version of something like this work (such as a Lantronix MSS100) with the appropriate breakout cable?

[Brutman]

You can use up to three parallel port sidecars on a PCjr. But each one has to be modified to report in at a different address - there are no jumpers you can set on them. I posted the procedure to make an "LPT2" sidecar years ago - see the main web site for that.

I am not a big fan of the Lantronix devices. They work, but the PCjr can run TCP/IP directly - you don't need another gizmo limited by the speed of the serial port to do it for you. (But you do need something like the Xircom, or the hacky PC bus to ISA bus contraption that I have with a real Ethernet card in it.)

[GHiero]

Wouldn't a Lantronix ethernet-to-serial device be severely limited by the speed of the serial port, which officially is 4,800 baud?

[jmetal88]

Wouldn't a Lantronix ethernet-to-serial device be severely limited by the speed of the serial port, which officially is 4,800 baud?

That was my thought, as well. The parallel port adapter is pretty speedy if you do the bidirectional mod to your sidecar.

[Brutman]

Wouldn't a Lantronix ethernet-to-serial device be severely limited by the speed of the serial port, which officially is 4,800 baud?

Echo? I pointed out the limited speed of the serial port in the post previous to yours ...

To be more precise, serial port speed is around 480 bytes per second. Ethernet can be from 30 to 100KB per second.

[GHiero]

Wouldn't a Lantronix ethernet-to-serial device be severely limited by the speed of the serial port, which officially is 4,800 baud?

Echo? I pointed out the limited speed of the serial port in the post previous to yours ...

To be more precise, serial port speed is around 480 bytes per second. Ethernet can be from 30 to 100KB per second.

I just wanted to make sure that I established how slow it was and was not overlooking something.

Even a non-bidirectional parallel port with Xircom adapter can do at least 20K/sec on a PCjr., 40X the speed of the serial ethernet adapter, and the prices for the Lantronix seem much higher.

[Tempest]

I was only suggesting the Lantronix device since I have access to one here at work. I'll go with the Xircom device when I find a cheap one.